Meyn originally posted content to the channel without Lehrer’s permission and called him from overseas in December 2008 to apologize, a conversation he later posted on the “Tom Lehrer!” Facebook page. An excerpt:
TL: Well, you see, I'm fine with that channel.
EM: You're very kind. But my question is: Who in your family will take care of your copyright and your songs in the distant future?
TL: I don't have a family.
EM: OK, but what do you think will happen to the channel and your songs? And if you have someone who will act on your behalf, could you give them my name in case they'd want the channel taken down?
TL: Yes, but there's no need to remove that channel.
EM: I was just wondering what will happen in the future, because you're certainly going to continue to sell records.
TL: Well, I don't need to make money after I'm dead. These things will be taken care of.
EM: I feel like I gave away some of your songs to public domain without even asking you, and that wasn't very nice of me.
TL: But I'm fine with that, you know.
EM: Will you establish any kind of foundation or charity or something like that?
> EM: Will you establish any kind of foundation or charity or something like that?
> TL: No, I won't. They're mostly rip-offs.
Having interned/worked in three INGOs (Save the Children, World Concern and UNICEF) for a total of ~2 years, and having a family member who have worked in a well-known French NGO (ACF International)for 3+ years, I have to agree with this assessment.
That's why when I donate money to charities, I'm very selective and make sure the charities I donate are NOT affiliated with religion (ahem, Save the Children and World Concern) or any political agenda (UNICEF). The truth in INGOs is that they need constant stream of funding and sometimes, they make up/exaggerate stuff to help drive the donations.
Worse is, when you actually work with people in NGOs, you'll find there is a stark difference in pay and benefits between foreigner (usually white or English speaking) and the local/native employees although the latter are the ones who know much more about the actual problems. Regional directors in UNICEF come and go every two years or less and they always can't wait to get out of the shithole third world country that they are supposed to be helping about. They and their fellow (foreign) workers are also paid very well with car, housing and children education benefits (all of which I'm not opposed to, but I'm sure as hell that they cannot find an equally well-paying job with their degrees and credentials in their home countries). Plus you never find these regional directors and management people at work (meaning, they show up to work like maybe once a week if we are lucky; no, they are not in the field working, which is left to the native employees of said INGO).
NGO’s are in a tough position with endemic corruption common in most poor countries. Having a 100% native workforce ends up being extremely high risk, which results in all sorts of seemingly inefficient strategies becoming common. For example leaving anyone in charge for very long tends to be a surprisingly bad idea.
> Having interned/worked in three INGOs (Save the Children, World Concern and UNICEF) for a total of ~2 years, and having a family member who have worked in a well-known French NGO (ACF International)for 3+ years, I have to agree with this assessment.
Those bear no relationship to the sort of charity Lehrer would establish with an estate generating hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
But it does relate to Lehrer's comment that "They're mostly rip-offs." Who knows the scope of his comment, but the anecdotes shared regarding StC WC and UNICEF seem germane to me, given the ambiguity.
Oh man, THANK YOU for this. What an amazing article!
>He grew up on Manhattan's Upper East Side, the son of a pioneering necktie manufacturer, James Lehrer
That's just hilarious. I can't think of anything more appropriate than a necktie manufacturer family.
In any case, if anyone is unfamiliar with Tom Lehrer, I encourage you to take a wiki dive and then listen to his music. This guy taught mathematics at Harvard, then accidentally sold 10,000 copies of a vinyl of his songs in a few weeks, then went on to tour the US and the world.
His works remain some of the brightest, most convivial, most haunting and poignant works of song to date. He sings clever happy songs of things like pollution, patricide, nuclear holocaust, arson, murder, racism, plagiarism, criminal boy scouts, disease and crime in Mexico and, of course, the eternal desire of the common man to poison pigeons in the park.
Like "Weird Al" Yankovic says in that article, Tom Lehrer remains the modern Tom Lehrer today. There's just no one like him and the way his songs have remained so relevant up to this day is something I find myself in awe of. He just... took a look at society, grokked it on a primordial level and wrote songs that I will end up teaching my kids and they'll go "Wait, they had these things 80 years ago?"
EDIT: Also, OP title is wrong, Lehrer simply released his LYRICS to the public domain. My copy of "Too Many Songs by Tom Lehrer" with musical notation remains relevant, yay!
Don't forget the brilliant introductions and epilogues that accompany his songs. They're just as smart and funny as the songs themselves, with not an ounce of fat on them.
> There's just no one like him and the way his songs have remained so relevant up to this day is something I find myself in awe of.
Much of Bob Newhart's comedy holds up very well today, but of course it's not music.
"...This year, for example, on the first day of the week Malcolm X was killed which gives you an idea of how effective the whole thing is.
I'm sure we all agree that we ought to love one another and I know there are people in the world that do not love their fellow human beings and I hate people like that."
Meyn originally posted content to the channel without Lehrer’s permission and called him from overseas in December 2008 to apologize, a conversation he later posted on the “Tom Lehrer!” Facebook page. An excerpt:
TL: Well, you see, I'm fine with that channel.
EM: You're very kind. But my question is: Who in your family will take care of your copyright and your songs in the distant future?
TL: I don't have a family.
EM: OK, but what do you think will happen to the channel and your songs? And if you have someone who will act on your behalf, could you give them my name in case they'd want the channel taken down?
TL: Yes, but there's no need to remove that channel.
EM: I was just wondering what will happen in the future, because you're certainly going to continue to sell records.
TL: Well, I don't need to make money after I'm dead. These things will be taken care of.
EM: I feel like I gave away some of your songs to public domain without even asking you, and that wasn't very nice of me.
TL: But I'm fine with that, you know.
EM: Will you establish any kind of foundation or charity or something like that?
TL: No, I won't. They're mostly rip-offs.